Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai Brightens the Holiday Season

Enter the glittering forest realm of Cirque du Soleil’s myth-inspired Varekai this December. The internationally acclaimed circus spectacle returns to Montreal 11 years after its official premier here in Cirque du Soleil’s home town, with bigger and brighter than ever shows transforming the Bell Centre, December 20-30, 2013…

As in many Cirque du Soleil productions, Varekai immerses us in an acrobatic adventure through a fantastical land where creatures fly through the air, dance on stilts, juggle fire, and occasionally clown around. In the wild forest-world of Varekai (which translates from the Romany language as “wherever”), brightly-hued creatures find their lives disrupted by a man who suddenly falls from the sky, just as Icarus did in Greek myth after flying too close to the sun – but this time, instead of drowning in the sea, he embarks on an eye-opening journey, encountering incredible sights along the way.

Created and directed by Quebec’s own Dominic Champagne, an award-winning artist and director of both Cirque’s Zumanity and the Beatles-inspired Love, Varekai reflects the Cirque du Soleil vision of contemporary circus, interweaving world-class circus acts with a compelling emotional story, gorgeously outrageous costumes and make-up, and truly dazzling set design and lighting. While Varekai’snarrativefocuses on the characters of Icarus, the beautiful creature who guides him, a grandfatherly old man who inspires him along the way, and a mad scientist who watches over the world, the show features over 50 other talented circus performers from around the world.

As Icarus travels through Varekai, creatures emerge from the forest to perform a variety of complexly choreographed and physically demanding circus acts, including aerial hoop and straps, hand-balancing, juggling, Russian swings, a Georgian dance sequence and more. Not only does each act in any Cirque du Soleil production aim to astound, but the performers palpably strive to push their acts and their bodies to the next level. Such heights of performance paired with Cirque’s signature over-the-top style are always an impressive, entertaining spectacle to behold.

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